Exemplary Latter
by Winslow Fisherman
Summary: During a fight, Sora's shadow swallows him up and transports him to the gates of The Sliver Shadow Hotel. Before he can attempt to turn back, Sora collapses into a sleep. When he awakens, his new location is a room within the establishment. Note: Chapter 16 is up.
1. Chapter I

Chapter I

"My body changed to my new thirst, I had conquered my flesh and transformed its taste, but I never could again drink clean water. I am now a monster, a cross between fish and human, the water I drink is unlimited, but food is no more. I see a raft, those aboard, I will make them last," a female voice whispers within range of a sleeping young man. A page flips while Sora opens his eyes, turning to see a light blond-haired woman with a book in her hands. "Chapter 3: Hunger With Horns."

"Who are you?" the sleeper asks, looking around to see he's in a hotel room that looks as if a tornado had come through it. "How did I get here?"

The light blond-haired woman looks away from her book, smiling pleasantly at Sora. "Oh, you're awake. Thank goodness you're not dead."

"Why would I be dead?"

"You were laying on the ground, not moving at all. I thought about letting the crows eat you, but I don't think I could let my mind live with that. I told myself let's make sure he's not just resting."

"Um, thanks?"

The heroine closes her book and tucks it under her arm. She walks over to check her acquaintance's pulse and exhales slowly to find that he's doing ok. "Your pulse is steady, you're lucky to be alive and not crow food."

"That's great to hear," Sora replies, feeling a bit uneasy at the responses he's been getting so far. To ease off the tension he spots the title of the book and decides to bring it up in hopes of ending the bad air. "Orel Myshton's 'Climatic Glory,' it sounded like an interesting book."

The light blond-haired woman looks away, going red in the face. "You heard me reading out loud?"

"Yeah, I did. Do you like to read out loud?"

"Not all the time, but with this epic poem, it suits it best."

"Why?"

"Well, it gives more chills while reading it."

"What's it about?"

The heroine hands the book over to her acquaintance. "It's a dark epic poem about a guy that washes up on an island and drives himself mad, believing he's the god of the place."

"I see," replies Sora. His face twists as he reads small sections of the work because of how horrific some of the lines are and quickly hands the book back. "How can you read that stuff?"

"Its kind of hard to, but after reading it a few times, it sort of grows on you," says the blond-haired woman. She sets the book down and holds out a hand. "My name's Nema, and it's nice to meet you…"

"Sora."

"Sora, it's nice to meet you Sora."

_Creak, creak_; footsteps from outside the room make the pair turn their heads to see an old man in a bell boy outfit looking at them from the hall, a small flashlight is in his hand. "Nema, you can chat with your boyfriend later, your needed at once."

The blond-haired woman sighs, standing up and looks to Sora. "I'm sorry, but I have some business to attend to. Please rest up a bit more, I don't want you missing tonight's dinner."

"You're inviting me to dinner?" the acquaintance says, smiling at the thought of being with his rescuer. "That's awfully…"

"No, that's not what I meant."

"Then what did you mean?"

The heroine turns to her servant and nods. "Vek, would you mind telling him what's on the menu tonight while I got talk to 'them' about whatever little thing they're fussing about now?"

"Of course my dear," the old bell boy replies. He waits till his boss is gone and looks to the room owner, chuckling. "The dinner is fried catfish," Vek says, snorting. "Eat well, Sora."

Nema's servant closes the room door, _click_, it closes for now. _Creak, Creak_; the wood for the hallway whines again as its walker trails off to who knows where. The room owner looks around. He lays on his back to look up at the ceiling that has small cracks and tears in it. _Bang_, a loud noise from upstairs causes some of the paint to peel off and fall onto his face like beautiful snow in the winter. Sora sits up, grumbling and stares at the ceiling.

"Keep it down!" the room owner screams, then he lies down and groans as he feels a headache. "A good meal should help me out, but first," he says, closing his eyes and exhales slowly, "I need a bit more sleep before anything else."


	2. Chapter II

Chapter II

_Tap, Tap_; someone is hitting the wall of the right ride of the room near the small broken dresser in Sora's room. The sleeping owner opens his eyes, turns his head and stares at the spot where the sound had come from.

"Hello?" Sora says, but when he gets no reply he stands up and walks over to the area to do his own tapping, yet silence is all he gets. "I'm probably hearing things," he says, and turns to go back to bed, but spots from the corner of his left eye a small dusty book in an open dresser drawer. He grabs the book, blows off the dusty to find it's a copy of Orel Myston's 'Climatic Glory' and groans. "Another copy of this trash?"

_Knock, Knock_; someone is at the room door. The owner turns as it unlocks and opens to reveal the old bell boy with a metal tray in one of his hands. He pulls off the cover, revealing a fried catfish and bottle of water. The food's smell causes saliva to fall from Sora's mouth.

"You're fried catfish," Vel says. He walks over to the bed and sets it down. "Enjoy."

The room owner moves to his meal, but stops to ask a question. "Vek?"

"Yes?"

"How many copies of Orel Myshton's 'Climatic Glory' does Nema have?"

"Why do you ask that?"

"I found one copy in my dresser drawer."

The old bell boy grins. "That's your copy to read while you stay here."

"I don't understand."

"Everyone in The Sliver Shadow Hotel has their own copy to read. My boss thinks that everyone should have good reading material while they stay here."

"I've looked through it, it's not something I call, 'good reading material.' Do you have a magazine, or…"

"No, that's all we have."

Sora looks away, thinking of something to say, but just turns his head and nods. "I'm good then."

"Don't rush your meal, choking isn't a great way to die," replies Vek. He turns and walks to the door, but stops to look back, giving a heavy inhale then exhale. "Leave your tray outside, I'll come pick it up later," he says and closes the door, _click_.

Sora sits on his bed, tosses his copy of the dark epic poem to the side and reaches for his meal, but he finds there's no silverware. "He forgot to give me utensils to use, how can I eat this?" he mumbles. He stands up to go to the door in hopes the old bell boy isn't too far away from his room and pounds on it loudly. "Vek! Can you hear me?" he screams, but no creaking of floor from outside comes and the room owner turns to his meal. "Ok, I guess I'm going ape."

Sora moves over to his meal, touching it with one of his hands, but finds it's a bit hot still and decides to wait. There's no television, radio, or any other means of keeping the mind busy except that book. Orel Myshton's 'Climatic Glory,' but the room owner really doesn't want to read garbage that makes him uncomfortable, especially before dinner. A thought enters his head, he could just read the opening, it's not that bad, from what he skimmed, and grabs the book.

"Orel Myshton's 'Climatic Glory,'" Sora reads aloud, then opens the book and begins the story of one man's journey to false godhood. "I was a puppet on a string for the sea, It tossed my body around and then threw me onto the shore, It got bored, not that much fun apparently, and then I fell here.

"A lush island, with life that would soon turn into ruins, all of those who cared for me are gone. They watch above, 'Please, help me!' I cried to them, no words came back to me.

"Bah, who needed them, I would live my life the way I want to, rules, regulations, they'd be my own. This place is my home, If all those I know will just toss me like the sea, that's fine.

" I will build my own paradise, allow only one man to live here, This place, this island would be meant for me, and no one else. I there alone, became something great, a god, yet I wonder."

The room owner sets the book opposite where his dinner sits, grabs his fish and begins to eat, using more of the book to distract his mind from the thought that he's eating like an animal than a human being. "But first I had to rid my mind of the past, start anew by labeling the needs that must be filled, sleep, eat, drink and evacuate when my nature calls me to do so."

_Tap, Tap_; something is at the wall by the dresser as before. Sora stops reading, looks at the spot and sets his book down.

"Hello?" the room owner calls out, but no response. He shrugs his shoulders and resumes reading. "My world would be perfect, one person should exist, that's what I thought back then.

"If others came to my island, I'd send them away, 'Come near and I shall rip off your ears and eat them!'

"No wandering soul is allowed to be with a ruler, even if they beg for sanctuary, man should've known that by now.

"Only, the world I lived in had people who lived under thumbs, they lived through codes and systems, that's how I met them.

"'No, they left me here!' I screamed, I told myself to be my own man, through hard work I'd have people bowing to worship me and all I'd do is laugh at their pathetic state."

"Don't read anymore," a voice whispers, and the room owner looks up to the wall, that's where it came from. "You'll drive yourself mad, madder than a hatter, or hare that's no longer there."

"Who are you?"screams Sora.

"Leave now, escape, or **Welcome To The Sliver Shadow Hotel**."

"What are you talking about?" Sora stands up, setting his book down and walks over to the wall. "Hello? Hello? Can you hear me?"

No response again, but just to make sure, the room owner taps the wall. When nothing comes he turns away, heading back to finish his meal. _Tap, Tap_; a response finally comes. Sora turns to stare, sweat begins to fall and an odd coldness sweeps through him.

"Hello?"

"The clock's hands circle the times of Nigh."


	3. Chapter III

Chapter III

_Who, who_; an owl calls the toll for the late night, sitting on a branch from a tree standing outside the window for Sora's room. The owner stares at the ceiling, overwhelming fears of what that voice said to him can't let his mind rest. He turns over, looking at his copy of Orel Myston's 'Climatic Glory,' laying on a table near the bed. He grabs the book, staring at its cover that shows a man standing on a cliff with a flare gun in his hand as he stares off at an ocean.

"This really isn't a great thing to have as reading material in a hotel," Sora says while flipping through the contents. A small piece of paper falls onto his lap from the last chapter called, Sleep Won't Come, Pray For Me. He grabs it, but as he goes to open it he notices a highlighted line. "Devils they were not, my self torturer it be, the right I threw away would purge me and prepare me for years of eternal punishment."

The room owner shuts the book, setting it on a small table, and takes the note. He flips it open to find one small message: Sleep By Day, Wander By Night. _Click, urk_; the door to Sora's room opens before he can speak, and reveals the face of Vek, his appearance is zombie looking thanks to low lights in the halls. The servant walks to his guest's bed, pulling out a small lighter and bottle of whiskey with a rag in it. He flicks the lighter, setting the tip of the worn cloth on fire and stops a few feet from Sora's position.

"Did you enjoy your meal?" Vek asks, breathing in and out heavily.

"Yeah, but what does that have to deal with…" Sora jumps out his bed, dodging the pyro weapon that sets his bed ablaze and onto the ground. "What's wrong with you, Vek," the room owner screams and looks to see his servant setting up another round, "why do you want to kill me?"

"My body falls for the attraction of one love, the girl who left me behind for another, only to die by winters hands!" Vek screams, throwing another bottle, but Sora dodges out of the way, and more flames spread. "My attractions flew to things I knew would not satisfy me, I should've have kept the woman alive than eat her flesh, I'd twist her to join me but then this place wouldn't be mine!" the old bell boy roars, throwing another bottle. "In the end, by my hands, I made those feelings change by a simple fix, to that which won't work right!"

"What are you talking about?"

"The Practice of Fixing from that dark epic describes me perfectly! I am old and the boss will never love me like she has with any of the great guys who've stayed here before me!"

"So you go and burn them?"

"Cut, Burn, shoot, poison, does it matter? I will not let her be happy with the insanity she's given me, showing off her body as a piece of candy for a starving man who just wants to have some of it! She may like you, but that doesn't mean she can let you stay here long enough to become her someone someday! I'll kill every guy that comes in here!"

"Hang on! Where did you get the idea that I…"

"Don't pull that wool on me! Every guy she's brought in here has been like that! They're all liars! Liars!"

"You've got it all wrong!"

Vek starts to prepare for another attack, but the room owner rushes him and knocks him to the ground. The servant had a bottle ready to go, it falls from his hands, smashes and sets him ablaze. Vek screams loudly, turning over and over to desperately put himself out, but he stops moving because the flames have put him to sleep.

Sora steps around, heading out into the hall to find that not one door is open, nor anyone is coming down the halls to find out who'd been screaming. The room owner looks back at the burning body and flames. He puts out everything on fire and then goes to look for Nema.

_Creak, Creak_; the floor whines as Sora moves down the hall to the stairwell door and finds rust covering its handle. He attempts to open it, but finds a chain from the other side won't let it budge. He turns seeing an elevator that's open, but has tape over because its out of order at the moment. He looks back, seeing a stairwell door by his room. " I can't believe I didn't see that before coming all this way," he mumbles and slams his head against the wall. "I hate tonight."

_Click, urk_; a door to Sora's right opens to show a beautiful green eyed lady with bright red hair in a blue night gown looking at him. "What are you doing wondering around here at night? You lost, or something?"

"No, I-you didn't hear the screaming?"

"What are you talking about? All I heard was you whispering loudly outside."

"I'm sorry miss."

"Miss? How do you know I'm not married?"

"Are you?"

"No freaking way! I'm not letting my body go so I can live in a nightmarish world with taking care of brats and having a stuck up husband!"

"Ok, I'm sorry Ms., or whatever you want to be called."

The girl busts out laughing. "I like your humor 'dude.'"

The wanderer goes red in the face, looking away and chuckles. "It's not dude, it's Sora."

"I'm just messing, names Veila, but seriously what are you doing out here?"

"I need to speak to the owner of the hotel right away…"

"She's probably gone home for the night, but we are close friends, perhaps I could give a message to her from you."

"Her oldest bell boy tried to kill me, he's dead, and the room is in a worse shape since he did his best to burn me."

"No way, Vek tried to burn you? You really must've messed up his day."

"He kept screaming at me words from The Practice of Fixing, from that book, Orel Myshton's 'Climatic Glory,' he believed it described his life perfectly."

"The old guy should've been let go once he hit fifty-five, stupid man kept believing the boss who took over after his first one retired would let her have a piece of her. Creepy, huh?"

"How old was he?"

"Seventy."

"What?"

"Yeah, he really, really, really wanted to have her. Like I said, creepy, huh?"

"Do you have a phone?"

"No, this whole place has no phone, that's why I said I'd relay the message tomorrow."

"But there's a dead guy in my room, shouldn't we notify the staff, or something?"

"Wouldn't do much, they're busy enjoying the night."

"'Enjoying the night?'"

"Yeah, every night they act out lines from that dark piece of trash."

"Have you read it?"

"No, look if you need a place to sleep, get in here," Velia says, moving aside. "It's ok."


	4. Chapter IV

Chapter IV

_Tweet, Tweet_; a blue bird alarm clock says that the time to wake up is now. Sora, who's been sleeping in the upper right corner of the room, turns and twists as a nightmare involving a flame moving like a snake, chases him. _Knock, Knock_; someone is at the door to Velia's stay, but when no movement comes, it turns into a pounding. The guest shoots up. He turns to see a man wearing a stripped white and black t-shirt in dark dress pants with matching dress shoes standing in the hall outside the room. A gun sits in a holster around his left arm.

"Sora, my name is Detective Roy Barker," the man says as he moves forward, pulling out a card from the pocket of his shirt and hands it over. "I'm here about the death."

"Did Nema call you?" replies the guest, rubbing his eyes so he can get a better picture of the guy. "About the death?"

"Yes, now can you tell me what happened?"

"I was in my room, attempting to sleep and…" Sora trails off, thinking about all that went on and shakes his head when the part about the message passes into his head. He looks to see the detective is waiting for the rest. "And as I started to drift off to sleep, Vek came in and attacked me."

"I'm not here for a ghost story, tell me what you know about Mr. Welsh."

"Huh? Aren't you here about the damage to my room and the death of Vek?"

"Vek's been dead for seven years and the neighbor you stayed with because of the 'damage' to your room, found none and thought it might be interesting for me to talk to you."

"No, I saw Vek last night, he tried to kill me using a bottle of alcohol, a rag and lighter."

"Look, its better if you get off this fantasy and tell me what you know about Mr. Welsh."

"I don't know a Mr. Welsh."

"I see…"

"Come on!" Sora screams, standing up from his corner and stares into Roy's eyes. "You really didn't see the body, or damage to my room?"

"You room has always been in a mess, this whole place is damaged. Your host doesn't like to spend much of her money, unless its for herself, or things she thinks The Sliver Shadow Hotel needs."

"Why isn't she charged for spending money for the hotel on herself?"

"Do you do drugs? Drink at all?"

"Do I look like I'd do that stuff?"

"I was once young too and did 'experiments' back in my day."

"Come on, I'll prove it."

"I told you I've been at your room."

The guest takes off to his room. He hears the detective groan, but what Sora sees when he's in the hallway makes him slow down his pace. A gurney with a white sheet covering a lump moves towards him as he does, an arm hangs out with blood stains on it. The paramedics moving this portable bed for the dead, goes towards the elevator. The owner of the room across from the deceased turns to see one of the EMTs press a button for the moving box that let's out a ding and opens up for them to move into with the body.

"What's going on?" Sora asks. He turns to Roy who stares at him. "That didn't work."

"Sure, Sure," replies the detective who looks into his client's room. "Where's Vek at, huh?"

Sora looks into his room, seeing no body and the damage to the bed is none. "This can't be!" he screams running into his room, and searches for marks. "It looks like…"

"There's been no fire damage, nor is there a body. Tell me, how did you get here?"

"I-I…"

Roy moves in, walking over to the room owner's side. "Look Sora, I'm just asking questions, but next time I do, you should probably make sure you haven't fallen into an 'episode,' before meeting me."

"I don't do drugs, or drink!"

"Then why…" the detective trails off, seeing the book on his small table and picks it up to take a look. "Orel Myshton's 'Climatic Glory,' I didn't know you like to read."

"Vek, 'the dead guy,' told me its in every room. It's the only reading material in this place."

"Really? I didn't know that. I'll have to have a talk with Nema about this."

"Why did you dodge my question earlier?"

"What question?"

"Why hasn't she been charged for spending money on herself?"

"I wasn't dodging, I was ignoring because I have a job to do."

"Well, I'd like to know."

"That's business that doesn't concern you," Roy replies, taking the book and begins to walk away, but stops to look at his questioner. "Don't read junk like this ever again."

"Wait, I have nothing to do for my stay here."

"Sora, just get out of here, this place isn't good for you."

Before the room owner can respond, his visitor takes leave with book in hand. Sora sighs, and thinking it'd be best, decides to head for the check out. Besides, he needs to contact his friends to come get him, if they can, from this place that the darkness took him to.

"Your total comes to 500 dollars," a desk clerk says making her customer jump back from the horrifying surprise. "How do you wish to pay?"

"I don't have 500 dollars."

"I see, do you have a credit card? We take those."

"No, I don't have one of those. I've got munny."

"We don't take foreign currency."

"Wait, why's it so expensive to begin with?"

"Well, you did spend money on food, sleeping for the night, fire damages…"

"What, the detective said there were no fire damages!"

"It's coming up on our computer that there has been some."

The room owner screams, pulling on his hair. "This is a joke, right? I mean, the detective told me damages to this place have always been here."

"Well, during the night one of our caretakers found the bed had been burned along with new damages, so there'll be a charge."

"Wait, the bed got changed during the night?"

"Yes."

"Did he see a body?"

"A body?"

"Yeah, old guy in a bell boy outfit?"

"Vek passed away seven years ago."

"I'm so frustrated right now!"

"Look, if you don't have the money, you'll have to work it off."

"But I have to get back to my friends!"

"Would you quit shouting, please?"

"I need answers!"

"What seems to be the problem here, Alley?" a lovely voice asks. Both customer and checkout turn to see Nema wearing a tennis outfit. "Is someone attempting to check out without paying?"

"Yes," says Alley.

"What's the bill?"

"500."

"I see, well, I do have an idea to let him pay the bill. Why not have him serve his full night stay and if he does, no charge?"

"Miss Nema, that isn't really…"

"How long do you have him down for?"

"A full week stay, which includes yesterday."

"So he's got four days left, and how much does a typical week cost?"

"About 500."

"Then if he stays all nights, he's free to leave."

"Ok, if that's what you want…"

The hotel owner shoots a glare. "It's what I want, unless you'd rather 'pay' for it?"

"No, no, I fully agree with you."

"Good, now get back to work."

Nema turns away heading towards a room that reads: Owner's Entrance only. Sora, thankful, but full of burning questions, catches up to her and blocks the hotel owner's path.

"I just saved you from a bill you won't be able to repay by work. Now let me through so I can get back to my job, mainly reading my favorite book," Nema says, but finds her guest won't budge. "What do you want?"

"Answers."

"To?"

"Why did your oldest bell boy attack me?"

"Oldest bell boy?"

"Vek."

"He's been dead for seven years."

"But last night, you talked to him and you saw him."

"It must've been your imagination because last night the only bell boy who came to your room was Ver and he's mute. Your mind must've been playing tricks on you."

He can't argue anymore, the thankful guest moves out of the way. "Sorry, but may I ask something?"

"What now?"

"Why would you leave all your guests a disturbing, dark, epic poem as the only book to read?"

The hotel owner yawns. "It's a good read," she says, and goes into her room quickly.


	5. Chapter V

Chapter V

Sora stares at the ceiling in his room. With nothing to read, all he can do is sleep, but rest won't come until his brain clock says I'm ready to go. _Knock, Knock_; someone is at his door. The room owner stands, walking over to it, but he finds no one is there. As he turns away, a fresh, mouth-watering smell catches his nose making him turn around to see a tray with three things on it. Tonight's meal (ribs), a bottle of water and his copy of Orel Myshton's 'Climatic Glory.' Out of all he's got on the tray, the book is what he picks up first.

"Looks like Nema got the detective to give me back my copy," Sora looks around the hall. He takes everything he's been given back into his room and sets them on his bed, but his eyes won't leave his copy of the dark epic. "I wonder," he says, looking at his bed, "is Nema, or anyone that lives here, hiding something. Like why they would change the bed, or why are the rooms a mess? There are so many questions in this place that I can't answer alone."

_Click, urk_; a door from behind the room owner opens. He turns to see a young adult wearing casual street clothes exit out into the hall from the room across Sora's place. The unknown pulls up his hood from his jacket and smiles looking to see his neighbor's copy of Orel Myshton's 'Climatic Glory.'

"It's in your room too, huh?" the stranger says, chuckling. "What do you think?"

The room owner turns to the book, and back to the unknown figure. "It's quite an epic."

"More like a piece of trash. I read it back in an english studies course in college. Really demented plot and content, but there is one thing I liked about it."

"What's that?"

"Finishing it to move onto better things. Do you have a magazine, or something?"

"Sorry, that book is the only reading material in the hotel."

The stranger holds out a hand with another in his jacket pocket. "The name's Rye, I just moved in this morning."

"My name's Sora, you do know that someone died in your place last night."

"Yeah, but you know what they say, 'what belongs to one, goes to another.'"

"Is that a quote from that book?"

"No, why would I quote garbage?"

"What can you tell me about Orel Myshton's 'Climatic Glory'?"

"Not much, why do you ask?"

"People I've met here seem to be obsessed with the book."

"That's a shame, actually, you know why the guy in my room died?"

"No."

Rye makes a slashing motion across his throat. "The guy slit his own throat, those that knew him said he was obsessed with the chapter called: Shadows With Eyes That Are Always Watching. Then again, that piece of work has always caused problems, why its still in print is beyond me."

"What do you mean, 'has always caused problems?'"

"Back in the early twentieth century, there was a horrible series of events called: The Ending of Nigh."

"'The Ending of Nigh?'"

"People who read the copy went mad after reading parts of the book, believed it to be one of the greatest works of all time. They demanded it be put in the Utopian Preservation Center."

"How did that go?"

"Not great, the idea got shot down and mass chaos broke out in every place that had a copy. Death, severe injury, and broken minds, were all what was left when the madness came to a halt by a threat to track down every copy of the book, gather them into piles, and then burn them until the piece would no longer be around. The funny thing is that back in the ninetieth century churches got the government to burn all copies, yet some were able to survive to the point of being re-printed."

"Why did they re-print the book if it was dangerous?"

"The system changed because the government got more power. Churches still are important, just not as much to people because needs evolve, tastes go away, and new ones replace them if you get what I'm saying."

"Ok, well, I'll see you later, I've got to eat."

"Cool, it was nice to meet you Sora. I'm going for a walk and will be back later on tonight," the new neighbor starts to walk away but stops to look back. "Hey you see that green-eyed girl?"

"Yeah, what about her?"

"She's pretty hot, huh?" replies Rye. He watches Sora's face go red and busts out laughing. "Life is but a dream, but I do have one last thing to say."

"What's that?"

"If you've been reading that dark epic, stop right now."

The room owner watches his new neighbor walk away. Sora closes his door, turning to his meal, but his eyes shift to the copy of Orel Myshton's 'Climatic Glory.' "What made you?"


	6. Chapter VI

Chapter VI

The world is quite outside Sora's room, no owl this time, nor anything else that usually comes with a soothing dark world. The moon is out, but all it can do is shine a light through the room owner's view and help him view his copy of the dark epic. Sora scans the horrific fourth part of Shadows With Eyes That Are Always Watching as bedtime approaches.

"My shadow was locked in a fist fight against the bodies of those who'd died in my paradise, I cheered and jeered as it went on. It was a painful spectacle for each time they hurt mine I would scream in pain," the room owner reads aloud. "'Damn you darkness for the terrors you inflict on me!' I screamed, 'You know not of the power I have!' I stood up, and taking control, shouted one last thing before tearing the shadows apart with my own. 'I am darkness!'"

"Don't read anymore, or do you wish for madness?" a familiar whisper asks and Sora turns to the wall near his dresser, his ears all open to what the voice has to say. "Be cautious, don't tread a road you know not how it functions."

Before the room owner can respond, a big thump from upstairs makes pieces of the ceiling fall onto his hair and face. "Hey, what's your problem?" Sora screams, but all he gets is another thump and more ceiling from above. "What's going on up there?"

"Third floor knows the place, but they keep them restrained, they've been deemed insane, but will be kept here until their debt is paid," the unknown voice whispers as it snickers in an unsettling way that makes its listener turn to his wall. "Sleep By Day, Wander By Night."

"What are you talking about?" Sora asks. No response comes and he turns away, looking back at his book. "Sleep By Day, Wander By Night," he repeats to himself and recalls the message. His head begins to ache as frustration enters his skull. "What did that voice mean?"

_Knock, Knock_; someone is at Sora's door. _Click, urk_; the room owner's entrance opens to reveal Neme standing in the doorway. Her face is pale and red, she's been drinking.

"You, why did you let him die, again?" the hotel owner screams.

"What are you talking about?" Sora asks, but Nema grabs him by the collar of his shirt and stares into face. "Wh-what's your problem?"

"As I turned both man and woman's breast over the fire, my hunger grew and I could feel it. Horns were growing out of my head. I looked to the sky, cursing out: 'Should I starve? Give me more animals!' but the only beast that I could see otherwise to eat would be me."

"What are you blabbing about?"

The hotel owner tosses her guest into his bed, cracks her knuckles and makes two tight fists with a feeling to pummel Sora. "As I ate, the secrets of life came to me, who man is and what they are," Nema screams and charges forward, ready to strike. She stops as she looks into the fearful freezing eyes of her opponent and withdrawals from her attack. "Life that should not be taken as a meal, 'Damn my life! Now I must be what I dreamed!' I screamed into the night, 'A god that lives by dark rules, a fiend born from evil! God, please spare me!'"

"Nema!"

"No winds to signal comfort, a warm breeze from evil brings false comfort, I did not wish to forsaken my creator but I did not wish to suffer, yet now I wonder."

"Nema!"

"What shall come tomorrow? Do I beg for forgiveness, offer sacrifices to my creator to prove I'm sorry whether it be by suffering, or death? No, I shall sleep to bring forth paradise."

"Nema, I'm sorry that Vek is dead."

"He died seven years ago."

"Then who are you mad at me for killing?"

"Vek."

"But you said he died seven years ago."

The hotel owner looks up, and begins to whimper. "He still wanders, protecting and serving my place for he's bound to my paradise, but…"

"But what?"

"You killed him."

"How could I kill him if he's dead?"

"You sent him packing with his own madness lurking in this room."

"Wait, what are you saying?"

Nema turns around heading back out into the hall, but she stops to look back. "Welcome To The Sliver Shadow Hotel, please watch out for the those that wander and hide whether it be flesh, or spirit."

"Wait, I don't understand what you're telling me."

"Devils they are not, My self torturer it be, The right I threw away shall purge me and prepare me for years of eternal punishment."

Before the room owner can say a word, his host takes off, closing the door behind her quietly that leaves a confused guest as to what's going on. Its quiet, too quiet, but a familiar tapping on the wall makes Sora turn. No whisper of a voice comes.

"Is everyone mad in this place?" the room owner asks, turning to his copy of Orel Myshton's 'Climatic Glory,' and groans. "How can people obsess about a piece like you?"


	7. Chapter VII

Chapter VII

_Creak, creak_; the wood from the halls echo outside, Sora turns over and looks to see his door is ajar. Curious, he rises from bed and takes to peek out to see what, or who, is making that sound. He sees Velia, carrying a worn copy of the dark epic in her hands, but her destination is unusual. She stops near her room, but turns towards the elevator. There is tape covering it. She rips the paper off. Fearing that she's going to hurt herself, the curious takes off down the hall.

"Stop!" he screams, making Velia turn her head, but her face makes him freeze. "My god, what happened to you?"

The young woman's face is bloody, her teeth, when she smiles, shows more. "Hello Sora, what are you doing again out this late?"

"Wh-what happened?"

"I was just out to the lobby to see if I could check out, but some of the workers here asked me if I wanted to help join them in their night off."

"What's that blood from?"

The strange one turns her head towards the light above, looking at her reflection and giggles. "I forgot to clean myself up after that scene, no reason you think I'm scary."

"Why were you heading to the elevator?"

"Branches from broken trees circled me, they tore and beat me till the blood from my face could do more, then it went for my mouth."

"Why did you come to this elevator if it's broken?"

"Those ghosts continued to harm me, inanimate they may have been, only, how could I avoid them?"

"How did the elevator break again? It was working this morning."

"'Haunt me no more devils built from nothing!' I screamed, grabbing those that swirled around me and continued to lash, tear, or what it be for brutality against my mortal flesh, 'I will become your master by the dark light within I shall bind and make you my pets!'"

"Shut up and answer me!"

The strange one pauses, turning her head to Sora and begins to laugh hysterically. "With the power inside me I grabbed that which disturbed me," Velia screams, grabbing Sora by the collar of his shirt and throws him into the shaft. She watches as he grabs onto a cable then looks up at her with blown away surprise. "I'd make the specters fall with my jaws, cut their power down to a string that's wrapped around me finger, make them my servants," the mad girl screams and jumps in, catching the cable below her fearful foe. "'I cut!' I scream, bite their webs, into me they go," Velia cries, and bites the wire, gnawing at it savagely.

"Stop it! You're going to kill yourself! You'll kill me!"

_Snap_, one wire goes with surprise and the room owner watches his mad friend jump to the other one to gnaw on. _Snap_, the last wire goes, the elevator goes plummeting down, it'd been stuck between levels. Velia jumps, grabbing onto Sora, and bites his right arm. He screams, and shoves off his attacker so that she may die within a fallen elevator with a loud crash.

"The sun came, the storm ended, I had conquered the spirits that took hold of the inmate while I had laid sleeping!" are the mad woman's last words to be screamed before she hits the debris and dies, no more words tonight, or at least that's what the room owner hopes.

"I'm sorry Velia," Sora whispers, and looks at his wound. "I can't believe she bit my arm, what did the staff do to her?" he says, and swings himself to the hall. "Did this really happen?"

_Click, creak_; the survivor of a nightmare turns, seeing his neighbor come through a door at the other end of the walkway. Rye moves slowly down the hall, Sora's appearance makes him want to stay away, but his look can't help to draw him towards the bleeding and weary.

"Who attacked you?" the neighbor asks, stopping a few feet to examine the injured Sora better and see how much of a mess he is. "Or was it something else?"

_Click, creak_; a door next to Velia's old room, opens. An elderly lady wearing grandmotherly like clothes steps out into the hall, her face red as a burning coal. "Would you two be quiet? I was busy counting the stars from my window! Now I have to start over!"

"Please tell me you didn't hear it," the survivor groans, feeling his mind is swimming in a pattern of insanity. "Please tell me neither of you heard the loud bang of the elevator collapsing, or Velia saying her last words."

"What do you mean by, 'saying her last words?' Did you kill the chick that lives near the elevator?" the late returner exclaims, both his eyes and the old lady's rest on Sora. "Why-why would you kill her?"

"I didn't mean to, she…" replies the survivor, who looks away in anger.

"She may have been an uptight slut who couldn't keep her voice down while reading out loud that wretched book," the elder says, creating a snap from Sora who looks at her with surprise, "but that's no reason to kill. Were you two fighting about something and that's why you decided to murder her?"

"Yeah Sora, what got you boiling?" the survivor's neighbor adds with a sneer.

"There was no fight. She went mad, cut the cables with her teeth and went at me. I shoved her off, sent her falling, but it wasn't…" Sora replies, feeling a heavier wave of shame.

Rye grabs the survivor, turns him around and puts him onto his knees. "Tell me, what's the real story?"

Sora looks up to see that Velia's copy of Orel Myshton's 'Climatic Glory,' is lying a few feet away from him. "Hey, old lady…"

"Take this piece of trash to the lobby," the elderly screams, but as she turns to go back inside, Velia's next door neighbor goes over and puts a foot on his head. "The name's Ms. Vix, and if I hear you call me old lady again, I'll crush your skull, murderer."

"She told me she never read the book!"

"What are you blabbing about?"

"Ms. Vix, Velia told me she had never read the book."

"She must have, how else could she quote it word for word?"

Sora freeze's but then the note about the staff's meetings comes to mind. "She told me everyone that works here plays out parts at night when they're off and before she died, Velia told me she went to one tonight."

"That's funny, funny sad, considering that I've been here a long time and never heard about them doing that."

"I swear, its the truth…"

The neighbor picks up his chum, and starts to pull him down the hall. "Come on, you're going to wait downstairs with me. Morning is almost here and when Nema gets here, we can talk about your 'wild' night."

"I'm not lying! She told me the staff gets together to act out parts from that dark epic!" the survivor screams, struggling to get free, but finds Rye's grip is tight. "I didn't murder her!"


	8. Chapter VIII

Chapter VIII

"Ok, let's go through it again," Roy says, flipping back to the front page of his note book and leans back in his chair for Nema's main office desk. "You found your door ajar…"

"Look, I'm telling you, I didn't murder her!" Sora snaps, banging his fists on the desk. He watches the detective look up at him, giving a laughing look. "Sorry, but I really didn't murder her."

"You shoved her off you and let her plummet into the smashed elevator."

"She attacked me, what was I supposed to do, let her nibble me to her hearts content?"

"You were in her room the night prior to yesterday's, did you guys have a quarrel then about what you said happened with your room?"

"What did I tell you happened?"

Roy groans, flips through his notes and stops. "She was bloody on her face and teeth, holding a copy of Orel Myshton's 'Climatic Glory'. She started talking to me about that she went to a meeting, but as the conversation went on, Velia began to quote lines from the poem."

"There, we had no quarrel, she just snapped after she started quoting lines."

"Have you been reading that book? I thought I said not to read it, it's bad for your mind."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

The detective chuckles, leaning forward into his suspects face. "You don't want to know what goes on in this place, Sora," Roy says, making his suspect's eyebrows raise slightly, "Ever since that book came into this hotel, people have lost it, they 'obsess' about the book, but you knew that already, right?"

"So you know I'm not a cold-blooded killer?"

"No, I didn't say that, you did. Honestly, I see a guy who might be able to stop the wickedness that's plaguing this place, but I must ask one more time-did you murder Velia?"

"And I think you know what type of guy I am, detective."

Roy leans back once more, pulling out a tick tac and pops it in his mouth. "The sea stopped me from moving, it splashed up against me as if to take my life, its tentacles could not wrap around me," he says, smiling vaguely as Sora becomes still. "I've read it too, but my only difference is that I don't treat it like holy scripture. It's a book and nothing more, yet others…"

The detective stands up, his suspect's eyes follow him to the door. Roy opens it, and the young man heads out. Once he's in the lobby, Sora turns, feeling that his interrogator is behind him, but finds the lawman is at the desk, looking through the notes from the discussion.

"Detective," the suspect says. He gets a look from his interrogator. "Who really wrote the dark epic?"

"The name's on the cover," replies Roy, who points to the door, "close it behind you please."

Sora closes the door, but as he turns his body jumps. He's face to face with the hotel owner, who scowls at him. "Honestly, I didn't kill her for kicks…"

"You killed Velia, and you say it was self defense," replies Nema, who grabs her client by the ear, drags him over to a small bench and sets him down. She gets eye level, a cross look stares down into his skull, creating unease for Sora. "I save you, and what do you do? Let one of my customers die. Get one thing straight, you mess with me, the price is a room on Floor 3."

"What's on Floor 3?"

"You've heard the booming in your room, right? Use your imagination, or ask around."

As the hotel owner leaves her guest, Sora recalls the words his next door neighbor told him, "'Third floor knows the place, but they keep them restrained, they've been deemed insane, but will be kept here until their debt is paid,'" the suspect says quietly to himself. As he turns to look up at the ceiling, his eyes spot his neighbor lying up against an opposite wall. "Did they ever tell you about the third floor?"

Rye turns to Sora and stares at him for a minute before answering. "Why should I tell you anything?"

"I didn't murder her."

"Right. Look, all I can tell you is that you can't get a room for Floor 3."

"Why?"

"Nema told me on the phone that they're reserved for those that can 'pay' their high prices."

"What does that mean?"

"My interpretation, more than a regular hotel, but hey, I heard you don't have to pay for your room on the second floor, it's free as long as you complete your stay here. You had a really good thing going."

"'Had?'"

"Well, I'm pretty sure they'll put you away soon," the wall man says, chuckling and sighs. "You did murder someone after all."

"She attacked me, it was self defense."

"You still murdered someone."

"It's not murder if the person attacks you."

"Really? I guess you didn't do anything wrong if you can justify your crime by saying it was self-defense."

Sora stands up, and begins to head back to his room by staircase, but he stops to look at his neighbor. "Look, I killed someone, it's not a great feeling, but it wasn't murder."

"I really don't care what you say, but you'd better pick a story because if you go on trial, you won't become a roast," Rye says, and his face darkens, "you'll turn into a piece of charcoal flesh."

The suspect opens the stairwell door, letting it slam loudly and begins his accent to the 2nd Floor so he can get to his room. As he moves up, he hears booming from the third floor and flakes of concrete falls from the walls next to him. The rails also vibrate, creating an annoying squeaking sound. Sora decides to switch tracks, his new destination, Floor 3.

_Squeak, Squeak_; the rails continue to vibrate, giving off a collect sound as if they were a group of mice singing as one. The climber finds himself at the third floor, but he turns back, looking to see one last set of steps going up, but as to where it leads to, he doesn't care right now.

Sora grabs the doorknob, feeling sweat fall down his face and a bad feeling punches him in the gut. He turns the handle, but when he attempts to open it, he hears a chink sound and looks up to see a chain is locking the door from the other side. "Can't go in? Fine, I'll just sneak a peek."

The climber opens the door again, quietly and looks with an eye. He sees that all rooms look mostly the same, yet the lighting and decor is much fancier than what's on his floor. _Boom_, the downstairs door slams shut. Sora takes off quickly, yet stealthily up to the next floor, leaving Floor 3's entrance ajar. He watches Nema go to the door, close it, and go back to her lobby.


	9. Chapter IX

Chapter IX

Sora sits on the bed in his room, flipping through his copy of Orel Myshton's 'Climatic Glory,' while eating tonight's dinner of two bowls of oyster cracks and half a bottle of water, in the moonlight. "This book is horrible, but every night I find myself reading the thing because there's nothing else to do," he says, closing his book. He sets it down, looks out the window at the sky's nightlight and sighs as he finishes off his last oyster cracker. "Why do people obsess about it?"

_Click, urk_; the room owner's door opens with no knock. Sora turns to see Roy in the hallway with a sleepy face. The detective yawns and rubs his eyes, sniffing because of a runny nose.

"Excuse me, I've seem to have a caught a little cold this week," Roy says. He sneeze's and takes out a handkerchief to blow his nose. "I'm sorry to have come, but we've got to talk."

"What's the problem, detective? Something not sitting right," the room owner asks, stretching he let's out his own yawn, "or are you going to take me to jail?"

"No, I just need a few more questions answered."

"I'm tired, can you come back tomorrow?"

"There's no rest for the wicked, or are you wicked?"

Sora stands up and walks over to the detective. "Lead on."

Both accused and interrogator move out of the room. They travel only a bit down the hall when there's a tapping on the door from a room to the right of Sora's place. Roy moves to the entrance, pulling out his gun, opens it quickly and ducks inside. A moment of silence passes by.

"Levi, put down the gun now!" the detective screams.

"Only if you put yours down first, Roy!"

"We're not going through this again, Levi! Now put down the gun!"

"No, this time you're going to shoot me and I won't let that happen, he's not meant to be here!"

The accused presses his head lightly against the door to hear the conversation better. "Levi, who are you and have you been the one talking to me?" he whispers quietly to himself.

"Nema picked him up and brought him here, he may be able to end the nightmare!" the detective roars.

"Then why are you going to kill him?" Sora's next door neighbor asks calmly, almost spookily as a relaxing sigh fills the place. "Does he pose a threat, or are you actually being kind?"

"A storm blew over the seas, catching birds in their tracks and it threw them down into the sea, then waves came crashing towards me. I knew that God above was going to bring my home to life, so that I may perish, for my mad goal!"

"Fire and Waves, part two, line four."

_Blam, Blam_, gunshots fill the room and Levi screams, his body falls to the ground with a loud thump. _Click, Click_; Roy readies his gun for any new danger. The eavesdropper moves back, turning so he can give the appearance he hadn't been listening. The detective opens the door and steps out into the hall, putting his gun back in his holster then sighs deeply.

"Finally, I killed him," Roy says and looks to the accused, smiling weakly. "Thanks for staying out here, you'd just have gotten in the way."

"Um, thanks," replies the eavesdropper.

"Come on, you can wait in the lobby while I get my car from the parking lot."

Roy walks down the hall towards the stairwell that's chained from the other side. Sora stands in the hall and the detective senses it. He turns, annoyance is covering his dark, dead looking face from the low lights in the walkway. His appearance from faraway makes Sora slowly point his hand towards the stairwell, making Roy turn his head just a bit with one eye on it and the other on the accused.

"That door can't be open," Sora says. He watches Roy travel down to the end of the hall, open the door, finding the statement to be true, and quickly shoot the chain. "Never mind."

The accused moves quickly down the hall, catching up with his escort. The pair moves into the stairwell. Sora notices something strange while they descend. The walls, railing and steps have layers of mold covering them. _Squish, Squish_; the accused can hear their shoes stepping into their fungus friends on the ground. A group of mushrooms growing at the end of a railing catches Sora's right eye, he turns wondering if this place ever got any cleaning.

_Click, creak_; the stairwell-lobby door opens up and Roy ushers his party member out into a space that's brightly lit. Once the door closes with a bang, Sora follows his guide to the hotel main entrance. Roy stops suddenly and turns to him, pulling out his gun from its holster.

"Stand by the bench,"he says, pulling back the trigger forcing the accused to obey. The guide of the party pulls out his handcuffs and locks Sora to the seat. "Now stay here while I get the car."

"Why did you kill him?" the accused asks, glaring to show he's not afraid, "Levi, what did he do to you?"

"That's something you needn't worry about even though he was right."

"'Right?' What are you talking about?"

The detective sighs. "You really want to know what's going on with everything, huh?"

"Are you going to kill me?"

"No, at least, I don't want to," Roy says, but he sniffs with tears falling down his face and points his gun at his target, "but if I don't, I'll never go home."

"Wait, what do you mean by 'go home?'"

The detective lowers his gun, stopping his sniffles and crying. "I'm headed for damnation for crimes that bind me here."

"I don't understand."

"I'm a specter, like Vek, the ghost you killed and sent to 'her' prison where all souls who have come to this place, go," Roy aims his gun again, his hands are shaking. "My boss promised to set me free if I kill you so you can take my place."

"How can you guys feel pain?"

"This place is cursed by 'her own will' because 'she' wanted to emulate that damn book's author."

"Orel Myshton's 'Climatic Glory'?"

"She had me hand over your copy, 'her' mind seems to really want you to stay at The Sliver Shadow Hotel. 'Her' soul is twisted, 'she' has full belief that ,'she,' created a paradise."

"Who are you talking about?"

"You know who I'm talking about, but I can't let you live to say, 'her' name."

Sora watches as his would be killer walk over and point the gun down on him. "Wait."

"I did not know my soul would wander, If I had known, then I'd cry for redemption."

The victim swiftly side swipes his attacker, a bullet shoots out and lands a hole into the wall behind him. The firearm goes flying out of Roy's hand and Sora catches it. He fires two shots quickly into his false guide's chest. _Click, click_; the gun is out of ammo, two were the life saver of good against evil. The victim watches his attacker cough up a bit of blood, he still has time to say a few words before he dies again.

"Who is 'she,' your boss?" Sora asks, staring down as his body shakes. "Who was Levi?"

"I-cannot-say-my bosses-name," Roy stutters and chuckles. "As for Levi-he was scum-a robber that stole money-and killed his own men. I'd been tracking him-for a long time-but when it came to confrontation-he killed me-but one of my buddies took his life."

Feeling he'd at least got knowledge of his next door neighbor, the victim throws his gun just out of reach for his attacker, a mean taunt. "Why would Levi, attempt to help me?"

"Sorrow-for what he's become-a ghost that'll keep coming back-just like me."

"What did you mean by 'her will,' is this place under a spell?"

"No-the darkness that lies in 'her' heart-is what has doomed this hotel."

Sora looks away, but as he turns back he finds that his informant is lifeless. "Damn, I wanted to know more about this place and his boss," he says, but as he moves forward, the cuffs pull him back. The victim spots a key on the ground next to his attacker's body. "It must've fallen out when I hit him with his own gun," Sora grabs the key and frees himself. "I…"

"I what, Sora?" a voice whispers, and the survivor looks up to see his neighbor that's across from his room, staring at him. "What happened?"

"It's not what it looks like, he attacked me and…"

Rye picks up the gun and examines it. "Damn, its empty," he looks at Sora. "Goodnight?"


	10. Chapter X

Chapter X

_Tick, Tick_; the grandfather's pendulum echoes throughout a quiet lobby. Sora stirs on the bench where he's been told to stay, or else he'd get a beating from his sleeping neighbor who's lying up against the wall across from him._ Bzzt_; the lobby's lighting awakens our bench rester, his eyes look around, but what catches him by surprise is that his attacker's body, gun and cuffs are gone. _Click, urk_; the hotel's front door opens, and Sora turns to see Nema is here.

"What are you two doing out of your rooms?" Nema asks. She crosses her arms and taps her left foot, waiting for an answer. "Well, do you have explanation?"

The bench rester hear's his neighbor yawn. "No, I swear I put the mp3 player back in its original spot mom."

"Wake up!"

Rye open's his eyes, looking around widely. He finds everything of the detective is gone, and shoots a nasty look at Sora. "Where did you put it all?"

"Put what where?"

"This monster!" the accused's guard screams with a finger to his neighbor who lives across from him. "Killed Detective Roy Barker."

Nema turns his head, and sighs heavily. "Is this true?"

"No, I mean yes, but he…" Sora fumbles, stopping himself because the reactions he's getting aren't necessarily good. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry? I'm surprised a killer like yourself can even say those two words," Rye snaps. He stands up and walks over to the officer's murderer. "I mean, you've killed two people, that's quite a surprise in two days, you're working your way up the ladder, huh?"

"Where's Roy's body, Sora," the hotel owner asks as she walks forward to look into her client's eyes, "did you hide his body?"

"Look…" the bench man starts, but cuts cut off by a hand to his face from Nema.

The hotel owner turns back to Rye, and sneers. "Before you go and tear my customer's heart out, I'd like to call the police department where Roy works."

"Fine, but I have to ask, what's that behind Sora?" the accused's guard says with a point to a hole in Nema's lobby wall. "Kind of strange, huh?"

"We'll get answers and find out what's going on," replies the hotel owner, who stands up and heads to her office. "But if something did happen, there will be consequences and they won't be great. Now follow me-both of you."

The guests follow Nema to her office. The hotel owner opens the door, ushering Sora and Rye inside before heading in herself. She closes the entrance, locks it, walks over to her desk's phone, and presses buttons on the keypad. _Ring, Ring_; her phone does nothing more than create unease. The lights inside buzz noisily.

_Click_; the line connects. "Detective Roy Barker, how may I help you?" a familiar voice asks, sounding loud and clear that someone isn't dead.

"Hello detective, this is Nema from The Sliver Shadow Hotel," replies the hotel owner.

"What can I do for you?"

"I'm just checking up on you, is that ok?"

"Um…sure…"

"Thank you, I've got some business to attend to. I apologize for the awkward call."

"Nema, if something's going on you should…" Roy's voice is cut off by a quick hang up.

The hotel owner looks at two dry, frozen, and stunned guests. "Well, do you two have anything to say for yourself?"

"Bull, you're protecting him!" Rye screams, his hands ball up into tight fists.

"Excuse me? Why would I protect a killer?"

"You didn't even charge him for murdering Velia!"

"That's enough from you Rye!" the hotel owner screams so loud that a flock of birds would go flying. "Listen, I'm not charging him yet because the case is still being looked into, and until any evidence is found otherwise that I should charge him, he's staying here."

"Why are you keeping a killer here?"

Nema sighs, and rubs her head. "This place, my hotel, has encountered many tragedies over the years. Suicides, sexual attacks, but something like Sora's predicament would have many stop coming to The Sliver Shadow hotel," she looks up at the accused and shakes her head. "The press is bad as it is, and I talked to the authorities. They wanted to take you away, but I fought for you to stay until they bring forth more evidence, however, your time here will be much longer."

"You can't keep me here forever," Sora mumbles, a scowl forms on his face. "You'll have to let me go, sooner, or later."

"Sooner, or later, or over to the police, just watch your nose and stay out of my hair, or I will change my mind," Nema replies. She takes her office seat and stares at the two guests intensely. "Now get out of here," the hotel owner says. She leans back to watch them leave, and close the door with a bit of force behind them. "Fire had never been so alive, the waves crashing made me feel sad, death for a new was coming."

"This is bullshit!" Rye roars. He looks to his quiet suspect. "Why?"

"Why, what?" Sora grumbles, feeling annoyance wrapping around him like a giant snake.

"I don't know why you're still here, you should be faraway from this place, you reek of death."

"Damn it Rye, would you drop it?" the accused snaps, and he grabs his neighbor that's across from him on Floor 2. "Look, I really don't get what's going on here because you're right, my behind should be on the grill for constant questioning of Velia's death! However, I did not kill her out of spite, I did it because she attacked me! As for Roy, yes, you saw his body, but what happened was…"

Rye breaks loose of Sora's grip on him and heads to the stairwell to go back up to his room. He stops to look at his suspect, but as he opens his mouth, no words come out. The accuser closes his mouth, opens the stairwell door and shuts it with a loud bang.

"This place is a mad house!" the lonely figure screams. He looks back at the hotel owner's door and then to where his accuser went. "People are trying to kill me, have gone mad with Orel Myshton's 'Climatic Glory,' but others are angry at me and one has me staying for…"

Sora groans, and heads to the same stairwell door his neighbor went through, but a small click makes him stop to see Nema step out of her office. Her face is pale, all color has gone. She looks sick.

"Sora, please don't forget to read some of your book," says the hotel owner, who smiles weakly and chuckles lightly. "It'll help lessen the insanity you've been going through."

"Ever since I started to read that book, my stay here has gotten twisted," replies the customer. "Besides, it seems to be an obsession in this place and I don't want to read anymore."

Nema laughs and smiles uneasily, yet kindly. "You will though, or else its Floor 3."


	11. Chapter XI

Chapter XI

Sora stares at his copy of Orel Myshton's 'Climatic Glory'. "Do all the copies of this book have a spell?" he whispers, turning over his copy he sees nothing except the same image from the front cover without words. "Why do people identify with the author, work themselves up into a raging hurricane, and destroy everything in their path," he mutters, tossing his book to the floor, "there's a whole bunch of plot strings lying around and…" he trails off and groans, "Who can help me?" a light bulb goes off in the room owner's head, "Ms. Vix, but…"

_Click, urk_; the door to Sora's stay opens, a maid with hair tied into a ponytail is standing in the hall, her eyes are beautiful, an alluring ocean blue. As the room owner stares into them, he feels a strange calmness yet a mix of terror and lack of hope that all shall be ok for tonight.

"Sorry the meal is a bit late," the servant says. She walks over setting the tray on the bed, and lifts off the cover to reveal tonight's menu, fried calamari with water. "Hope you enjoy it."

"As the waves came crashing down onto my fire, hope fell away, my body grew cold and dark," Sora says as his deliverer stops at the room's door. He's spoken a line, yet, his will to do so leaves him wondering why. "I'm sorry, I just…"

"I will not be damned by coldness, God can take my flesh, he cannot take my desire to live as a ruler of my one man paradise," replies the maid. She turns looking at the room owner and smiles. "You have a good voice, Sora. You should join the staff for some late night role-play of the dark epic, I think you'd enjoy it."

The servant exits, leaving Sora to scratch his head in confusion. The door's room closes quietly, but no clicking sound fills the dead air floating around in space.

"I just quoted lines," The room owner says, he turns to his copy on the floor. "Am I…"

_Click, urk_; the door to Sora's room opens again, but this time Rye is found standing outside, his face looks cold and dry. The visitor steps in and slams his neighbor's door behind him with a loud bang. Sora's heart jumps. His body won't move because too many fears are mixing leaving him catatonic while the visitor stares, emptiness can be seen in Rye's eyes.

"I could hear you from my room," the visitor says, cracking his knuckles as if getting ready for a brawl. "You going to kill her too?"

"Kill who?" replies Sora, his eye brows slightly rise. "Do you think I'm going to kill someone, just out of spite?"

"You tell me, are you going to do that to Ms. Vix?"

"No."

Rye leans against the door, sniffing his neighbor's calamari. "Smells good, your meal."

The room owner stands up slowly, cautiously, but ready in case his visitor comes at me with an attack. "Look, there's a whole bunch of mysteries I don't get that are piling on top of me, she might be able to help."

"I've made my mind up to keep an eye on you, so you're not going anywhere."

"Do you want to come with me? Would that ease your troubled soul?"

"I'm not the one's that troubled."

"Look, Velia did attack me! I didn't kill her for nonsensical reasons!" Sora screams, but the only response he gets is a deep sniff of laughter from Rye. "Fine, live in your fantasy, but let me ask this! How is Detective Roy Ligotti still alive?"

The visitor looks away, thinking and shrugs his shoulders. "I don't know, but I smell a relationship brewing and it's not a good one. I mean, she saw the bullet hole, didn't she?"

"Maybe she thought it was something else, a problem from a staff member, or perhaps we were both hallucinating…"

"Come on, do you really believe that?"

"I don't know what to believe anymore!" the room owner screams, he looks to his copy of Orel Myshton's 'Climatic Glory,' and sighs. "There's just so much going on and I can't help but wonder how it all connects," he looks up at the door guard and smiles wearily. "Please, help me, I need to know what's going on. I need to match up who with what to know the reality."

The door guard sneezes, and pulls out a packet of tissues. "Excuse me, my allergies seem to be acting up in this place," Rye says as he takes out a tissue to blow his nose and pockets it to throw away for later. "Look, I guess I've been jumping the gun way too much, but you have to understand that when someone hears one thing, or see another, their reality gets shaken."

"So its hard to know the truth from the lie."

"Yeah, and as a result, people just go with what makes the most sense. So right now, I can hear that you're a good guy, but its hard for me to swallow when someone I found attractive is dead. It's really hard to think because I heard the detective's voice…" the door guard trails off. A massive headache makes him grab his head and scream. "Nothing makes sense, but my brain keeps telling me to watch you, that there's something about you, a strange darkness."

"As he talked, the gears in my head froze, this guy turned into an annoying parrot that knew not my dream."

"Why are you quoting that garbage?"

"I'm sorry, I just did it…"

"Let's go talk to ," Rye replies. He turns to Sora's room door. "Stick close, ok?"


	12. Chapter XII

Chapter XII

The dim lights cast a pair of shadows against the left hallway wall, just like their flesh and bone selves, they movement in silence. _Fwoo_; for the first time on their floor, both can hear the sound of a vent blowing cool air from above. Peculiarity and a nice cold chill travel down their backs from the small machine made breeze. The duo's heart beats move unevenly as they wander towards a room where someone they believe may have answers to all that's going on.

"Why did you really come to my room?" Sora asks his fellow traveler.

"I guess its that whole phone incident, you know, hearing Roy's voice even though I saw his corpse on the ground in front of you. It just didn't make sense. My mind's been twisted so much that, it really needed an explanation and a part of me hoped that you'd have some legitimate reason as to why his body vanished," replies the questioner's guide.

The pair stops at Ms. Vix door. Sora turns his head, but looks away, still feeling shame for the death of Velia, a beautiful green-eyed siren.

"I'm sorry she's dead," says the questioner's guide, but looks into his fellow traveler's eyes and gives a strong look of determination, "but I will work hard to uncover the mystery of her death and everything that's surrounding this place that's infested with darkness."

"Thanks," replies Rye, who smiles weakly and does a light, friendly punch to his neighbor's arm, "now, shall we get to work and see what we can uncover?"

Before the questioner can say anything, his guide knocks on the door. The inside floor squeaks, Ms. Vix is coming to investigate whose come by for a night time visit. The room owner stops at her door, and after a minute, she opens it. Her face stares at those that are in the hallway.

"What's going on here," the old woman asks, her face grows red and scrunches up from tension, "what is he doing here," she asks, pointing to the guide's traveling companion, "isn't he supposed to stay in his room from now on?"

"We've got some questions for you," Rye replies as he crosses his arms, making a face of interest and fascination. "You've been here a long time, right? Then perhaps you can help us."

Ms. Vix slams the door in her guests faces. "Leave me now!"

"So then you admit you may know a thing, or two about this hotel!" Sora screams, receiving a glare from his guide telling him he shouldn't talk.

The room owner opens her entry once more, and smiles in a sarcastic manner. "Aren't you a smart young man, huh? Just because I've been here longer than both of you, I know everything, right? Well, if that may even be the case I'm not talking to a murderer, bye."

"Wait," Rye says as he stops the elderly from closing her door, "you can't fool us, there's some crazy things going on around here and I know that you know a lot. Why don't you put your accusations aside for just a moment and let us ask some questions?"

"Why are you on his side? He did kill the girl next door to me," Ms. Vix replies as she narrows her eyebrows at the guide's traveling companion.

"Please, help us out."

The old woman looks away, sighing as she feels a strong load of compassion sway her into opening her room door and stand aside to let both guests enter. "Come on, I need to get back to sleep soon," she says, but as the pair moves in, one of her hands grabs Sora by his shirt and stares deep into his face. "Watch your step, my room is a pretty big mess, you know that?"

The guide's traveling companion breaks loose of Ms. Vix's grip and proceeds in. The room owner closes her door, and both visitor's find that there are no windows in their hosts place. However, there is a light, a small candle that's beginning to fade, its been burning for hours before the guests decided to make a surprise visit to see their end hall acquaintance. Ms. Vix points to two chairs, one is at a small desk while the other is alone near a dresser.

"Grab a seat," the host tells her visitors. Once both party members have a spot, she takes to her bed and looks at them and yawns loudly. "You've got till my candle goes out to ask your questions."

"What do you know about this hotel?" Sora asks.

"You'll have to be more specific."

"What can you tell me about Nema?"

The old woman laughs, and let's out a small cough. "She took over the place when the old owner died. Her mind, at the time, was ok, but then she fell into a depression. I guess it may have been the massive responsibility of owning a place like this. She used to work here before, you know that. However, she had a desire, she wanted to run the place herself, but it looks like once she got her chance, the mind became a screaming raven, if you can get what I'm saying."

"What can you tell us about Detective Roy Barker?" Rye asks as he leans back in his chair.

"He was a famous detective that stayed here while hunting a notorious guy by the name of Levi Krabner that robbed banks and also killed his own men. I was fifty-five when the two broke out into a gun fight in the room next to Sora's place. Levi shot Roy, but Roy's men took down Levi. They say the two are still fighting here, and I've heard them, their gunshots at least."

The guide looks to his fellow traveling companion, his face is ill and cold in Ms. Vix's small candle light. Sora nods to Rye and turns his attention back to the room owner for his next question.

"Ms. Vix, can you tell me has this place ever had anything else to read before? Or has that book, the dark epic, Orel Myshton's 'Climatic Glory,' been the only thing here?" the guide's traveling companion asks.

"I lost my home when I was eighteen, my dad couldn't afford to have me around and I couldn't get a job, but he knew the first owner of The Sliver Shadow Hotel, and helped get me a permanent place here on Floor 2. They'd served together in combat, and my dad saved the original owner's life, but getting to your question, at the time, their was once a library here."

"So there was more than one thing to read."

"Yes, and for sometime, Nema kept it that way, she let me stay here too, but as her mind snapped and she closed down that place. She made it official that the only book that could be read was that horrible, filthy, disgusting, piece of trash book, Orel Myshton's 'Climatic Glory'. She was obsessed with that book, and you know what, many have followed."

"Point being, there was more to read, but the new owner changed it all for her own reasons."

"Correct."

Rye stares at his host, recalling something the hotel owner really didn't answer before arriving. "What can you tell me about the floor above us? Floor 3, Ms. Vix? I was told you couldn't get a room unless you paid a 'high' price, but I wasn't exactly told how much that amount was."

The old woman scratches behind the right side of her neck, thinking. A small amount of sweat can be seen falling from her forehead. "No one should have to live on the third floor ever."

"What's so bad about Floor 3?"

"People who go there, they stay and never leave their rooms. I've never been up there, only Nema and her staff know how to get into that area, but from what I've heard, it's for those that must pay for extremely horrible things they've done here."

"Is it like a prison up there?"

"Maybe, but you know the last person that used to live in your room was actually on the third floor for a series of months? He did something to really tick off Nema, I believe he kept snooping around to find out what was going on here, and Nema, she didn't like that. So, he got him a room on Floor 3, and it wasn't till a few years later, he'd return to his old room."

"I've actually heard someone banging above my room," Sora says, receiving all eyes from both the host and his guide. "I'm in my room, and on occasions, someone has been banging above, do you know who that could be?"

"Probably the last guy who lived in your room," replies the old woman, who yawns and turns to see the light for the candles is ready to go. "It's been a while since I saw him, but last I heard, he really caused problems to get a permanent stay on the third floor," says Ms. Vix. She stands up, walking over to her room door, and opens it just as the small flame goes out. "Your time is up."

The two guests stand up, taking leave, but once they're in the hall, a strange chill travels up their spine. The pair turns around to see their host staring at them, her face dark, yet calm.

"Stop snooping around," Ms. Vix whispers, "or you'll see Floor 3," and closes her door.


	13. Chapter XIII

Chapter XIII

Sora lays in his bed, looking up at the ceiling above him. No bumping right now from the third floor. His mind is weary, but the curiosity factor is growing to the point that he grabs his head and cries out with a soundless voice. He's going to go up their tonight. Someway, somehow, he's going to investigate because it's one of the lesser mysteries that must answer the major one, what is going on at The Sliver Shadow Hotel? He exits his room into the hallway.

"Let's see," the late night roamer whispers as he crosses his arms and thinks about how to get onto the Floor 3. "The room is on the third floor, but its barred by a chain. So how will I break it?" he asks. A thought occurs to him, but to be sure, he moves to its location. "I didn't hear anything about the elevator getting cleaned up. Have they not gotten around to it yet because the incident with me is still being investigated?" he says, peering down to see the wretched mess is still there. "I have to search it all and see if I can find a small sharp part to use for the chain."

The late night roamer turns to the stairwell door that Roy shot open, but a feeling makes him stop as he grabs the door handle. "Did it really happen, though?" he asks, feeling self-doubt grab him because his grasp on reality is thin, and let's go. He shakes his head, takes hold of the doorknob once more and tears it open, finding that it did happen. "I should be careful when questioning myself, or else it may just bite me in the back without hesitation."

Closing the stairwell door behind him, Sora finds himself in Fungi's Paradise that's continuing to grow lively, beautifully, in an ugly way. The lonely stair man pauses for a moment, looking at how much mold there is, the amount of different species of fungi, and that bugs are starting to infest now. Sora regains himself, and takes off, looking around.

"How did this place…" he trails off seeing a large web and a spider feeding on its prey it caught on a toadstool, "change so over a night? How does the madness keep growing in this place period?"

The stair man stops at the door, seeing a fusion of rust and mold is covering the door handle to get out of Fungi's Paradise. Sora lifts a shaking hand, fearing for the worst as he moves towards the disgusting exit and touches it, _sploursh_. Once he hears that sound, he turns the door knob fast, rips it open, and steps out into a cleaner environment. He slams the exit shut with a loud bang, and wipes his hand on his left sleeve. _Bzzt_, the lobby lights buzzing is the first sound to hit its guest's ears. _Tick, tock;_ the grandfather clock's noise follows closely behind it.

Sora moves towards the smashed elevator and begins to search. _Clink, Clink_; metal man picks up, throws and examines the mess with a careful eye. _Tick, tock_; the grandfather moves on, keeping track of how much time its late night roamer stays here. _Bzzt_; the lights continue to buzz, bringing assurance that they'll illuminate best they can to help out in the desperate search.

"Got it!" Sora screams, holding up a small piece of metal that looks like an arrow head, but then the light goes out, leaving only the time keeper to echo alone in darkness. The late night roamer pokes his head out of the out of order machine to see a person with a ponytail holding a candle. "What's the maid doing with that candle?"

Just then a loud piercing scream fills the air. Sora stands up, his heart is beating rapidly as he watches the servant go through a door into a room of darkness with her candle. The searcher stands up, feeling a desire to investigate where the staff member has gone. His body moves, but his head and heart are wheezing. Sora finds himself at the door the food server went into and grabs its knob, a cautionary hand catches with him. He opens the entrance a bit, and looks in.

"Leia, what happened with the lights?" a rough male voice asks the maid who sets her light on a small kitchen counter and turns with a smile. "We can't play our favorite scenes with your new friend unless we have light."

"Yeah, Leia," a high pitched male voice screams. "We are actors, creators that make the magic of Orel Myshton's work, come to life because the town won't allow it to be so."

"Tell us what happened!" a hoarse female voice snaps. "What do you know?"

The servant that set her candle sighs. "I can't believe you started without me. He's my pick up after all," the ponytail woman replies, shaking her head in the lightless room. "That aside, someone got difficult on Floor 3. He was attempting to take out the power so he could break free and run, but I subdued him, yet he still accomplished half of his goal."

"If someone breaks out of Floor 3, Nema will have your head for lunch!" the high pitched voice screams, and begins to laugh. "You're dead! So Dead! Dead! Dead! D-E-A-D, DEAD!"

"Shut up! She won't be the only one that dies!" the hoarse female voice snaps, _thwack_, something hits somebody and then a loud scream follows. "Come on, that didn't hurt you nat!"

"What do you mean 'she won't be the only one that dies?' Are you saying we'll die?" the rough male voice says, chuckling. "How so?"

"I brought someone in without 'her' approval, so we best play with him and then dispose of the body as fast as we can," The maid says, she goes off walking away from her unknown watcher from outside. "Thank goodness that our boss installed a generator in case of an outage."

"Yes, she does know how to take care of her staff, at times."

_Click, burr_; the generator stars up, bringing the light into the area back so quickly that Sora has to look away for a second. When he can see, his eyes reveal a sight most uncomfortable.

"Wh-what's going on?" the late night roamer whispers, backing away and falls onto his bottom with a loud thump. When his body hits the ground, everyone that'd been talking, stops. Leia walks over to the room door and opens it wide, revealing the full scene. "What are you…"

Inside a big group of people, excluding the maid, stand behind a kitchen-preparation table that has a man tied to it by spikes in the wood's surface. The man wears nothing except a pair of black dress pants and white socks. Cotton swabs are sticking out of his nose. The man looks up to see what's going on and sees Sora. He attempts to speak but he can't because of a cloth wrapped over his mouth.

"Sora, what are you doing out this late?" Leia asks, smiling in a kind fashion. She walks over to her watcher, helps him up and moves aside. "Please come on in and join us."

"First I had to wound the man, as he would fester, I would prepare his grave," The late night roamer says as he moves in, looking around at every dark face that's staring at him. "There would be another, her supple body would not be wasted, I would savor it."

"Very good," The maid says as she closes the door behind her with a loud bang. She walks over to the man who squirms, attempting to get free, but finds he can't. "Once he's killed, it'll be my time too, but when I committed this little fallacy, I guess destiny told me I must live that part."

"Damn," Sora says, he grabs his head and snarls, "I can't believe I did it again."

"It's only natural because the darkness in you from reading that book has seen his work before your eyes."

"No! You can't do this! Why are you acting out what you see in that trash?"

"'Act what you see?' what you're seeing is an exact interpretation of the best poem ever."

"You can't harm another human being! It goes against everything life stands for!" the late night roamer screams. His face distorts to a mix of confusion and panic. "Why would you want to die?"

"Well, I'll be killed if I don't take care of this problem and I don't mind dying. As long as everyone enjoys the show, it shouldn't matter," Leia says, she reaches for a knife on the table. She lightly drags it across her palm. "I would die for what I've become, my paradise would sink into the ocean, I would still be known as a god."

Fearful that a horrible scene shall play, Sora looks around the room and grabs his best fighter of the lot. He takes a fire extinguisher from the kitchen wall, takes off the pin quickly and fires its contents. The surprise attack makes the group move back. A staff member at the end of the group grabs another as he falls. That other grabs another and another, until everyone is on the ground. The late roamer stops blasting, drops his weapon and pulls out his metal arrow head.

"Hold on, this shouldn't take too long," Sora says when he gets to the man that can't move at all. He cuts the top bindings, then all lower ones and helps his objective to solid marble ground. "Come on, we have to get you out of here!"

"But where are we going to go?" the man asks, his head is swaying slightly from the buzz that still has him from drinking. "I don't know if I can walk."

"You have to give it a shot! Now follow me!"

"Get him!" Leia screams as she watches the two exit and take off from their sights. "We cannot let Nema find out about everything that happened! I will not die by her hands!"

A pair of running chickens find their first escape, the lobby entrance, is locked. They turn, seeing their dark playful friends come out, and turn to meet their faces with peaceful looks.

"Though the pair did run, I fought to tie them and prepare, little did I know what would happen next!" the group shouts in unison and begins to walk towards their prey. "I could smell their fear, could they feel my fear of not being utopian, this is my island and I am god!"

Sora looks at the stairwell, and grabs his drunk friend by a hand. "Come on, we've got to keep moving."

"Where are we going to go," the man asks, hiccuping, "can we get out through Floor 2?"

"No, and I bet Floor 3 will do no good either," the guide of a two man party replies as he opens the stairwell door and shoves his drunk friend in. "We'll have to get you off by the roof, if we can."

"Sounds dangerous."

"You've got a better idea?" Sora screams as he slams the door. He grabs the man by a hand and pulls him through Fungi's Paradise. The drunk looks around, seeing the nastiness of his surrounding and begins to sweat. "Don't go getting sick on me right now!"

"But this place…"

"We're almost to the roof! You can do it if you have to, once we're up there!"

_Sploursh, Sploursh_; the feet of two runners echoes in the nasty stairwell. _Bang_; the door for the place opens, meaning the crazy lot is here. Sora and his drunk friend keep moving, and with one turn, they travel up all steps to the roof door. Not caring if its clean, or not, the guide wretches his hope open and finds himself looking at a concrete top with pot holes in some spots.

"Wow," the late night roamer says, but stops his amazement upon hearing the splourshing of Fungi. He pulls in the buzz man, slams the door, and breaks its lock. "Drainpipe, a ladder…"

"What are you mumbling about," the other party member growls, his head is aching horribly from the cold air that's blowing outside, "what do you need a drainpipe, or ladder for, huh?"

"To get you out of here so the staff doesn't kill you, you remember that part of our run?"

"Oh yeah," the drunk man says. He wanders away from his rescuer and over to the railing at the other head to barf. "Hey, I see a large dumpster with trash bags in it."

"Don't just stand their idiot! Jump! Get out of here!"

"But…" the late roamer's acquaintance trails off when he sees pounding on the door.

"Now! You want to die!"

His head is clearing. The victim of a bizarre attack jumps into the dumpster just as the door bursts open. Everyone that's been chasing after him and Sora, piles onto the roof.

"What's going on here, why have you all stopped," a female voice screams from behind the staff, Leia pops out of her group and screams when she sees only the guest from Floor 2 in sight, "where did he go?"

"Back home, or hopefully to the police for what you were going to do," replies Sora. His eyebrows narrow into a scowl. "You deserve to be put be behind bars! All of you!"

"What are you all doing up on the roof," a familiar voice asks and everyone turns to see Nema standing on the right side of her staff, "what happened, Sora?"

"Leia kidnapped someone and brought them here to act out some parts of that book!"

Nema walks up to her servant whose shaking in fear. Noticing she still has the knife from the kitchen, her left hand swipes it. "Is this true, Leia?" she asks her employee. When no answer comes, Nema stabs her maid in the chest. "Put her on Floor 3," she says before exiting the roof.


	14. Chapter XIV

Chapter XIV

"Sora, I'm sorry for what happened," Nema says. She leans back in her office chair and slumps, growling in anger at her employee's madness. "Usually the staff makes sure not to drag outsiders into the hotel. Now I'm going to get swamped with police and reporters again."

"Why do you allow them to do it," the office visitor asks, scratching his head in confusion, "can you give me an answer?"

"Sora, it keeps them happy and working harder than ever to take care of issues that arise."

"They tried to kill that guy! You hear me, Nema? They tried to kill him!"

"Usually they just kill staff members."

"What?"

"Yeah, but using outsiders, I wonder if they've gone beyond their interest in the work?"

"'I wonder if they've gone beyond…' Nema! They're mad! They believe the book is something real! That it actually happened! That they too can become like the narrator!"

"I wonder how long the clock's hands have been circling the times of Nigh?"

"I've got a question."

"Shoot."

"How long has this 'role-playing' been going on?"

"Ever since I installed copies into this place."

"Years please."

"I was eighteen when I took this place over, gave this place a good book at 25…7 years."

"Seven years? How old are you?"

"32, I'll be 33 next year."

"You've allowed your staff to 'role-play' for 7 years?"

"It's not really a long time."

"'Not a long time?' It's gone on long enough from what I've seen. In fact, it shouldn't have started."

The hotel owner stands up quickly, making her customer step back from surprise. "Look, I run this place. It's not easy, how the last owner did it is beyond me."

"He probably didn't let the staff feed on unhealthy fantasies to keep the place going."

"Shut up!" Nema screams. She watches Sora's mouth shut and instead return an angry look. "This is my place to run! I saved your butt than let you die outside! I helped keep you here than go to jail! You belong to me just like all of those that live here! Until you pay your debt you can't say one bad thing about me! Now get out, or I'll move you to Floor 3, just like Leia!"

The hotel owner's visitor turns around to exit, but he stops to look back at a sour host. Sora turns the handle, opens it slowly and exits into the lobby. He looks around, seeing no other guests in the area. Staff members with mad looks stare at him. The lonely guest outside Nema's office room turns right to face a door that's only a few feet from his location and enters through it into Fungi Paradise's stairwell. Not caring to question the strange cleanliness around him, he stomps up to floor two.

"I don't get it!" Sora screams, he stops once on level two for his floor and grabs the railing with his right hand. "Why would she allow her staff to go mad with this book? The whole idea screams trouble," he snarls and slams the railing with a fist just as the door to Floor 2 opens up. "She's making trouble and barley blinks an eye! She stabs her maid and puts 'her' there…"

"Sora, what's going on?" a familiar voice asks.

The spouter turns, seeing his neighbor, Rye is standing in front of him. "Oh, hey, I guess you didn't hear about what happened last night."

"No, I didn't."

"Leia, a staff member of Nema's, tried to kill someone last night that she brought here."

"What?"

"She tricked the guy into coming back with her so they'd have someone for acting out a scene from Orel Myshton's 'Climatic Glory.'"

"That's messed up, but then again, that all happened during The End of Nigh too."

"Really?"

"Yeah, during the events, people held small performances for those that wanted to see it on stage. When movies came around, some made pictures based on the work, an utter mess those days."

"What happened with the performances and pictures?"

"The pictures were burned and the performances were stopped by the government."

"I can't believe history is repeating itself here just like then."

The neighbor begins to chuckle, but stops once he notices. "Sorry, but what's happening here is small fries and different then what happened in The Ending of Nigh."

"How much of a difference?"

"Well, let's just say its much different. Look, I don't think you could handle what I learned about The Ending of Nigh. Its full of so much information that I don't think you could understand it all."

"I've handle what you told me."

"I gave you the short version, perhaps one day when you grow some more, I can tell you more about it, but for now its best you don't know."

"The water was turning my insides, making me sick, knowledge and desires continued to fill me."

"There you go again."

"Sorry."

"Just stop!"

"It's not that easy!"

"No, you can. All it takes is determination."

"I've read so much of that work, it's coming back too easy."

"That's the problem with garbage, a disaster, a fear, anything negative can just come back, but you have to not let it become part of you. You have to get rid of it, someway, somehow."

"What would you recommend?"

Rye dips his head, thinking and sticks his hands in his pockets. When he does so his fingers feel his lighter and an idea hits him. "We're going to burn yours and my copy, that way neither one of us has to read it."

"She'll make us pay for it?"

"Not if we do it quietly and in a place she won't suspect."

"Where will we take our copies?"

The spouter's neighbor's head looks up at the third floor landing. "Up there."

Sora frowns, but remembers the hotel owner didn't take his metal arrow head. "Let's go."


	15. Chapter XV

Chapter XV

_Clink, clink, chink_; the chain that locks entry to Floor 3 finally breaks by Sora's tool and catches ground. Robin Hood shows off his metal arrow, getting a nod from his underling who's holding their items with his hands. _Creak_; Sora pushes open the door slowly, peaking around to see if anyone is around but finds Floor 3 bare. The two move in, metal arrow pockets his signature tool and closes their entrance quietly. A pair of deep diggers pause to scan around.

"Wow, such decor and furnishings, yet the room's doors…" Rye trails off, looking at the door in front of them that has, -1, spray painted on it, "give me an uneasy feeling."

"They go in negatives? That's really strange," Sora says and he moves a little down the hall stopping to look to his right to see, -3, on his right side. "This room, it looks to be on the same line as mine."

"How can you tell?"

"A very, very, very bad feeling, ok?"

_Click, urk_; a door to a room at the end of the hall opens up. The pair moves fast, but quietly to get behind a couch on their left. Peeking, they can see from behind their cover, two staff members come out carrying a lump in a trash can from the room into Floor 3's hall.

"I can't believe that damn guy stopped our meeting," the back carrier, mumbles. "Why did that dumb bitch let him into our play house?"

"Leia was always an idiot!" the front man screams, making every person that lives behind all other closed doors wail and cry out. Sora and his fellow traveler shiver. "Shut up!"

"You need to keep it down, remember the rules?"

"Rules? There are no rules here. Everyone breaks them, sooner, or later, it's her game."

"What do you think she's playing at?"

Seeing their foes getting nearer, arrow head and Rye scan for a new spot. Only place, a small bronze trash can. They move, ducking quickly, but quietly behind and hope they're not found. They watch the two staff members stop at the door and lay what they're carrying, down.

"Who knows," says the front man. He reaches into his pocket pulling a travel version of Orel Myshton's 'Climatic Glory' and hands it over to his pal. "I got a friend of mine in the printing business to make a travel version of the book. He loves it too, calls it a great piece of literature."

"That's great, think you can get me one made as well?" the back carrier asks as he flips through it and looks at its presentation. "I could use a version like this."

"It'll cost you a month's salary."

"What? Are you kidding me?"

"No, its super expensive for him to get it printed because of where he is."

"Where is he?"

"He lives where the whole thing get banned to begin with. They made it that any copy made costs thousands to make, there's only one original copy of that book there and its off limits for reading because of 'their church' and everything."

"Where did you meet him?"

"He stayed here once, tall guy, dark brown hair, contacts, remember?"

"Oh yeah, didn't he collect anything related to that book?"

"Yeah, said he was writing a book about the dark epic."

"Yes, and he told me that he owned a machine to make his own copies, but ink cost…"

"Was high? I can understand, but forget it, here's your book back."

As the lead carrier takes back his book, a smile crosses his face. "You really need to stop finishing my sentences, you know that? It's really irritating," he dips down, picks up his side and the companion following as well. The frontman stops, seeing this floor's broken chain resting below his feet. "Did you do this?"

"Do what?"

"Break the chain off?"

"Maybe, I'll buy a new one with my money a.s.a.p."

"Come on, let's take this body to the hotel's graveyard out back."

"You mean private swimming pool, right?"

"Yeah, only meant for the best and is guaranteed to make you dissolve in a flash."

Once the two workers are gone, their sneaky and nervous spectators move quickly, heading towards Floor 3's open room. Sora shuts the entrance just as his fellow traveler let's out a shout of unpleasant surprise. Metal arrow quickly grabs his mouth to quite him but what he sees makes him lose grip.

"This is what a room looks like on this floor?" Rye says as he looks at a beam with ropes hanging from it with a brown mat on the ground that has blood. He looks to his left seeing a copy of the dark epic that's clean unlike the towel and tools lying next to it on a small table. "Do they torture people to believe that book is reality? Or is that copy also there for 'reading material?'"

Sora grabs the table's copy and throws it on the ground. "We'll burn this one too."

"Sora, I'm comfortable with burning ours, but this rooms, we'll really get something."

"Give me the lighter and my book then. I burn my copy alone with this one, coward."

"I'm not a coward just, I've got a bad feeling, like something worse than being here."

"Give me my copy and the lighter now!"

The neighbor hands them over. He watches metal arrow set his book down on top of no man's copy. Sora sets both sides on fire. As he gets the fire going, Rye looks at his copy and lays it in a small burning flame. Robin Hood looks to his underling and smiles, patting him on the back for a job well done. They exit slowly and close the door behind them, but they find…

"-3 is open," Sora says, he looks around seeing no one and moves with his neighbor behind him with a balled up fist. When they come to, metal arrow looks inside seeing a middle aged man with a slumped head with his feet frozen in ice while sitting on a stool with his hands tied behind a pole. "What on earth did he do to deserve this?"

The strange lifts his head, revealing duck tape covers his mouth. His vision is blurry but he can make out the two and begins to shake, feeling more terror is coming for him. Sora looks to Rye, non-verbally tells him to get in and close the door behind him. The secondary party member shall watch their backs, his fists resting, yet ready for any attacks. Metal arrow moves over to the guy that's struggling for freedom and rips off his mouth cover, the poor man screams.

"Why? Why do you keep doing this? You're mad! You sick twisted people!" The stranger roars. "I hope you all burn, damn it!"

"Hey, I'm not with them, nor is my friend here!" Sora snaps.

The guy turns, his vision better and he stares, chuckling. "What are you doing here?"

"What do you mean? Who are you?"

"I'm a lost soul, damned here until they decide to let me go," replies the stranger who sighs and looks at his room door. "My name is Devon Marks, and I got put here for snooping."


	16. Devon Mark's Story

Devon Mark's Story

I have a nose for the truth, in other words, I'm a journalist. I work for a newspaper company, hunting down stories of the extraordinary, because my boss says I have a knack for finding the unusual but amazing bizarre works. A period of a time hit me when I could not find anything great to publish, my work fell into ruins and I nearly lost my job, but then she came.

Nema, The Sliver Shadow's Hotel owner, tells my boss to stop coming by after an incident involving one of her guests. From a little overhearing, I find that this guy cut off his neighbor's fingers and made him eat them before slicing both the poor guy's throat and his own. I could feel it running again, my nose, after hearing this piece of dark but fascinating tragedy. So, as Nema left, I go to my boss and attempt to get more details on the whole case between them.

He tells me that he doesn't know much because every reporter he's sent to that place doesn't get a chance to stick around and ask. My boss tells me that strange things have been happening for 5 years and that he's alway wanted to know what's going on inside that building. He sighs, and looks up at me, saying no one will ever know except those that live in there and that maybe its best. When I ask what he means he tells me just call it an uncomfortable twist.

As I leave the office, I get this cold sweat and turns to see him staring at me with these pale eyes. He warns me to stay away, to research something else, that its better to go through a slump than end up in a False God's utopia. Before I can ask what he means, the door closes and locks shut. I go back to my desk. Frustration is the heaviest coat I've ever worn in my life, but then again, everyone's worn it, right? I decide to take a plunge, and set myself up for a week stay at the place as a Mr. Clyde Sherman, a never ending tourist. I did have some other tasks to complete before showing up, the first getting a new driver's license.

I have a friend of mine that's good at creating fake for my little missions and have him do one for my made up self. My next step is changing my appearance. I go to a make up artist to help make me look older, yet hard to distinguish from my real self. Once my other self is ready, I pack a suit case with a mix of essentials, some notebooks and pocket a couple pens. I step out my home door looking at the hotel from afar. A coldness sweeps through my mask and onto my skin. I tell my house goodbye, march down the street, and arrive at the hotel in minutes.

I enter, and to my surprise, Nema comes up to greet me. We talk about my fake profile of being a never ending tourist, stopping at places and never going home because it's too hard to just stay in one spot. _**The world is full life, and being held down in one spot takes that away**_, it's my made up saying for my false person. She explains to me that there's one basic rule: don't cause a problem that infuriates her and I won't be put on the third floor. When ask her why I couldn't get one of those rooms when ordering she tells me that it's way out of my price range.

She excuses herself, saying she must go to her office and take care of some paper work that needs to be done by today. I go up to the front desk, check myself in and am led up to my room by this old looking bell boy, to your room Sora, that's right, I used to live there. I get in my room and I feel uneasy as I look at how messy my place is. I turn asking Vek, if there's a better room, but he tells me that they're all the same. I throw my bag on the bed and pull out a five.

He tells me he doesn't need it, that I should give it to Nema when I can. I grab his hand, feeling a slight mix of a chill and warmth coming from it, before placing it in his hand. I tell him to take the money, that I believe he should have it. I watch him stare at it before taking off and see him close my room door behind me. Once I feel he's gone I pop open my suit case, take out a note book and pull out a pen in my pocket to jot some notes down. Then I look around my room.

I find my own copy of Orel Myshton's 'Climatic Glory,' in a dresser drawer and stare at it. This book, as you found out Sora, is the only reading material here. It's a disturbing, messed up, graphic, sad depiction of when man attempts to be a god. Why it's the only thing here I would find out over the course of my stay, but in the mean time I didn't know what to think. I had read the dark epic years ago in college for a course on Transformational Literature, a class that examines how and why pieces of writing are banned, but can grow to become part of the world's society, culture and history. I put the book back in the drawer and continue my search.

As the day swings through to dinner, I eat thinking of how else I can investigate, or what other things this hotel may hold. I recall how strange the hotel owner had been about Floor 3 because there's no way they'd over price for one floor, it didn't make sense. Now to put it short, Sora, I fell into the same insanity as you. I could hear you reading, and when you start, well, you've seen the madness it inflicts. Vek enters from outside into my room and goes all out to set me on fire. Quoting is an addiction here, Orel Myshton's 'Climatic Glory,' isn't a story here-it's a way of life.

I went to complain to Nema, she told me it's impossible because he died five years ago and couldn't have been around. She told me that a man by the name of Vur had been on staff last night, but he's a good guy and wouldn't go after anyone. I felt I couldn't argue, she'd put up walls and wouldn't listen to me.

As I dug into the mysteries surrounding this place, more disasters fell in my way. Crazy guests, catching glimpses of the staffs' bizarre 'role-playing' with scenes from the dark epic at night and meeting more ghosts. Detective Roy Barker and his buddy that lives next door to me really hate each other. You've probably met them, or one of the two at least. The bank robber told me their story, that I should quit digging and escape via roof before its too late. He shot himself because the guilt he held made him do it. There are too many damned souls that it's hard to separate them from the living. He told me to run, but after reading that book and seeing much terror; I could not help but want to find out more. The third floor, where I am, is my last stop.

I break in, feeling this adrenaline rush. It's not excitement, pure fear that my curiosity is just as obsessive as those that hold Orel Myshton's 'Climatic Glory' close to their hearts. I found what you've probably found, the both of you, this place uses negative numbers. Why is that? It's for the level of the crime, the lower, the worse pain. All they give their 'guests' that live on the third floor besides suffering is that book. My neighbor across from my room passed away because of that little roach. Like many of those that live on this floor, they become part of it.

People are so afraid that they throw themselves into that book, it's their comfort zone out of madness, despite what its about. The guy got out quicker than me, but then again he'd lost his mind and didn't piss off the hotel owner as bad as I did. I've been here for two years, they've been keeping me alive best they can so I can suffer for all my digging and once their fill is complete, I'll be dead. You should run, Sora, take your friend and leave for the roof right now.

No, she's coming. Free me, quickly and I'll attempt to slow her down. If she catches you two your stay will be really long, possibly as long as mine. You'll never go home, see your friends, or anything else of the sort. You can't let that happen, free me, please, I can help you get away. Hurry, she's at the door and my best guess, something's not making her happy. Then again you two broke in, right? It's the only other way up here unless you've got a staff key.

Thanks, now stay here. I'll slow her down and I want you both to run. Don't move an inch until I say it's ok to go, don't look back. Run! Now! You guys can escape to the roof now!


	17. Chapter XVI

Chapter XVI

_Ahhh_, Devon's scream makes the runners freeze at the door of their escape. They turn to see Nema come out into the stairwell and look up at both of them. She clutches blood stained scissors in her hands, the hotel owner's face also has red on it. With her right hand, she reaches into her pants pocket and pulls out a small handkerchief with the initials N.M, on it. She wipes her face and sighs in depression. She starts to move, heading towards her two snoopers.

"You two really shouldn't have gone to that floor," Nema says calmly, yet sweet sounding at the same time, "but then again, we all love to play investigator once in a while," she adds, changing her tone to stern and mad as she moves towards them. "You're searching is done!"

Sora grabs the door handle, letting Rye run ahead of him and follows. He slams the door, locks it and breaks the knob to let their chaser pound all she wants. The duo takes only a few steps forward and sees them. Their hotel owner's servants are at the other end, holding weapons that range from fists to hazardous kitchen supplies. They stare with blank looks, but in their eyes, a strong fire is burning. The youngest runner can see they have a strong desire to kill him.

"Don't you see what's she done to you?" the oldest runner screams. "Don't you see what's she done to this hotel? All the guests that come here?" he adds, moving forward ahead of Sora and stops halfway in front of him to stare at their enemies. "Do you want this?"

"What we want is to be the god of this place!" a small man in a cook's uniform screams in a high pitch voice. "We can't do that though because of 'her' existence, and if we stand up, then our dream shall perish to the sea."

"Alone I let the waves twist and tear at my skin, I could not fight them, they'd win!" the massive crowd screams in one voice. "Damned I became, never to see them, my dream died."

The youngest runner remembers scanning that section during one of his nights before this, his mind recalls it clearly. Its part of the last chapter for Orel Myshton's 'Climatic Glory,' and he remembers the final line, but he won't speak, his mouth is fighting it. Rye notices his strong battle and gives a mad glare, it scares away the battle for now.

"No one gives two shits about that book anymore!" the secondary member roars, and he turns his head to stare into red faces that have just had a mental kick to their heads. "It's a stupid! Stupid! Stupid story by a guy that was so unhappy with his own life in reality!"

"It's not a story…" the small cook starts, but Rye screams once more to shut him up.

"You don't know jack about the guy! About the story! What it's true message is, do you?"

"Of course we do…"

"Then you wouldn't be like you are right now! Full of madness! A desire to tear me limb from limb and feast on my body like the story character!"

"And what proof do you have it didn't happen?"

"I went to college and studied this book! Did you?"

The high pitched man looks at his fellow staff members and then back at his opponent with a smile. "We don't need school! The author is our teacher and instructor on how life is!"

"You will never get the book! Never! And you know why? Your mind is locked onto your false ideology!"

_Bang, clang_; the metal door behind Sora and his negotiator falls down loudly. The pair turns around, but not fast enough. A trash can flies, knocking the youngest runner out and travels to a path to hit his friend as well. Nema steps out onto the roof, huffing and puffing.

"I went to college!" the mad hotel owner screams. "Seems working hard does pay off!"

"Nema! May we eat their flesh and bones?" the small cook screams, his face looks calm but the boss sees a chest that's breathing in and out rapidly. "They did do extreme damage!"

The hotel owner walks over to her trash can, pops off its cover and proceeds up to her staff member. The others scatter feeling something horrible is coming. Nema stops, and with one quick swipe, decapitates her employee. She turns around walking back to the two snoopers and stares at her fearful staff members, smiling. She looks to the two bag carriers from earlier.

"You two, carry my guests to my Hanging Grounds, now!" the hotel owner screams. She watches both workers come running, grab the two by the feet and drag them out. The boss looks to her remaining staff and groans. "One of you get a mop, a bucket, a trash bag and clean this roof up. The rest of you get back to work now, or I'm calling the cops and saying my staff went 'mad.'"

Nema moves, letting her employees scramble to get off the roof. Once all is clear, the only living person on this spot goes over to the headless man. She stares at the body, picking up the head and closes its eyes, but stops to stare at it. The hotel owner opens her mouth, but closes it and sets it back down in a gentle, motherly like manner. Her gaze turns to see the night is here.

"I could not tell if light was good, or bad, Darkness didn't feel comfortable either, I'd claim my own and name it Nigh," Nema says, whistling as she breathes out slowly. "Orel Mysthon's 'Climatic Glory,' Chapter 1: The Instigation, what a depressing line to hear."

"Nema," a rough voice calls that makes the hotel owner turn to see a man in janitorial clothes holding a bucket, mop and trash bag. "I'm here to do the clean up like you asked."

"Hurry up, it's already dark and before you know it…"

"The dawn will be here."


End file.
